This person really knows how to be reborn!

Chapter 27 Moonlight and Hills

Having barely managed to suppress the tingling sensation in his heart, Zeng Cheng quickly apologized to Yu Baiwei, saying it was all his fault. He had been so engrossed in playing games that he had forgotten that she sent him messages every afternoon.

[From Up on Poppy Hill: Zeng Cheng, I don't accept this. You didn't do anything wrong, so why are you apologizing to me?]

[Zeng Laoshi: Okay, then I'll symbolically retract my reply. By the way, scores can be checked here after midnight. It's probably inconvenient for you, so send me your exam number and I'll check it for you—although the college entrance exam score doesn't really mean much to you anyway.]

Yu Baiwei quickly sent over the exam number.

Zeng Cheng didn't continue talking to her, but told her to go to sleep.

Zeng Cheng then chose to read novels to pass the time. Around 11:50, he left his room, ready to check his scores on the desktop computer in the living room.

He tiptoed throughout the entire process.

I was afraid of waking my parents.

When I got to the living room, I realized I was overthinking things.

Mr. Zeng and Ms. Sun were both sitting in the living room, and you could tell from their expressions that the couple was extremely nervous.

Soon the family of three gathered in front of the computer.

There was no conversation, only their increasingly heavy breathing.

Anxiety and tension permeated the air.

Finally, it was midnight. Zeng Cheng gripped the mouse and kept refreshing the score checking website, but the results were always "404 Not Found".

Too many people were checking their scores, and the website crashed.

This situation was the most agonizing, to the point that even a highly educated intellectual like Zeng Liqing couldn't help but swear: "Damn it, those incompetent bastards in the Education Bureau can't even run a simple grade-checking website properly! Do they just waste all that funding on lavish meals and drinks every year?!"

Around 12:30, Zeng Cheng clicked the mouse again, and the results finally came out.

Candidate: Zeng Cheng.

Examination Admission Ticket Number: XXXXXXXXXXXX.

Chinese: 118.

Mathematics: 150.

English: 127.

Science score: 232.

Total score: 627.

After seeing the results, Sun Feng was both excited and somewhat disappointed.

What's exciting is that my son scored over 620 points in total, with a perfect score in math. With this score, getting into a mid-tier 985 university shouldn't be a problem.

The disappointment stems from not being able to get into the top few prestigious universities.

That's why this is called insatiable desire.

Sun Feng had even forgotten that a month ago, her only expectation for her eldest son was that he could get into a top-tier university.

Zeng Liqing stroked his chin: "Zeng Cheng, your performance was just average. Your mother and I were hoping you could get into a prestigious university. But it's okay, this score is already very good. In all our Zeng family's years, you're the only one who's achieved a 985 degree!"

Sun Feng was still disappointed and gently pinched Zeng Cheng: "Son, you really didn't do well on your combined science test, only got such a low score..."

Zeng Cheng smiled – this score was within his expectations.

Did they underperform?

Of course not. His score was even exceptional. To be honest, how can the college entrance examination only consider the total score and not the ranking?

"Would you two like to take another look here?"

Zeng Cheng pointed to the line below his total score of 627.

[College Entrance Examination Ranking: 118th in the province.]

Sun Feng and Zeng Liqing stared at each other, their gazes quickly becoming blank and their expressions gradually turning bewildered.

Are you sure you didn't see that wrong?

A score of 627 points can rank so high in the province?

What does it mean to rank 118th in the province? Excluding the Strong Foundation Program and guaranteed admission students, just looking at the regular college entrance examination, Tsinghua and Peking Universities admit about 120 science students from Sichuan Province each year—Sichuan is, after all, a populous province and a province with a strong education system.

In other words, Zeng Cheng's score is highly likely to meet the admission requirements of Tsinghua and Peking Universities.

This brings us to the difficulty of the 2009 Sichuan Province College Entrance Examination.

That was really difficult.

The cutoff score for first-tier universities was 498, and the provincial top scorer only scored a little over 650. Counting back twenty years from 2025, the difficulty of the 2009 college entrance examination was second only to 2003—due to the theft of the exam papers, which led to hellish difficulty.

If Zeng Cheng remembers correctly, the cutoff score for Tsinghua and Peking Universities in Sichuan Province this year was just over 620.

Considering he also has the provincial "Three Good Students" award, which can reduce his score by 10 points, he is almost guaranteed admission to Tsinghua or Peking University, but he won't be able to choose a good major.

After the initial shock, the couple became agitated.

Old Zeng kept patting Zeng Cheng on the shoulder: "Ranked 118th in the province, with a bit of luck you might even get into Tsinghua or Peking University! Zeng Cheng, your old man studied so hard back then, I couldn't even get into Sichuan University! You've been slacking off for three years, and you think you can get into Tsinghua or Peking University after just one month of hard work?"

He became more and more excited as he spoke, and his hands gripped the handle more and more tightly.

While dodging, Zeng Cheng complained, "Dad, are you dealing with spies sent by the Kuomintang? Trying to assassinate the pillars of our nation?"

"Zeng Liqing, you're going to die! Don't ruin my son!"

Sun Feng glared fiercely at her husband.

Zeng Liqing immediately stopped.

A certain woman, however, started applying double standards, suddenly pinching Zeng Cheng: "Oh my god, son, we can get into Tsinghua or Peking University! Am I dreaming?"

This made Zeng Cheng gasp in pain: "Mom, are you trying to kill a future emperor?"

It's not fair to blame Zeng Liqing and Sun Feng for being so flamboyant.

The greatest pride for middle-aged people is having successful children. Zeng Cheng's college entrance examination results are enough for the couple to be proud of for a lifetime. They walked around the office all summer without ever looking down!

Despite his complaints, Zeng Cheng felt happy seeing his parents so pleased.

It's worth it, truly worth it.

Even if it's just for the satisfaction his parents feel right now, all his efforts over the past month have been worthwhile.

To this day, Zeng Cheng still remembers how sad and disappointed his parents were when he failed his college entrance exam in his previous life.

Even so, the couple never blamed him or forced him to repeat a year of high school.

Instead, they spent a lot of hard-earned money to send him to an expensive third-tier university.

These are parents.

A mother's love is like crumbled moonlight, stitching every inch of tenderness into the frail body of a boy.

A father's love is like a silent mountain, supporting all the anxieties of a young person with its strong spine.

They spent half their lives lighting a lamp.

It may not be too bright, but it is enough to illuminate the boy's entire life.

Next comes the couple's moment of showing off.

Sun Feng quickly called her colleague, whose family also had a child taking the college entrance exam.

As for whether the other person is already asleep at this hour—sleep my foot! Get up and party!

"Old Cai, have you checked your scores yet? How did your Kunkun do?"

"Only 510? Lao Cai, you can't say that. This year's college entrance exam was especially difficult; the cutoff score for first-tier universities might not even be 500. Kun Kun's score is still pretty good. Don't scold our kid!"

"You're asking about Zeng Cheng? That kid didn't do very well either. Although he got a perfect score in math, his total score was only 627. I was just comforting him..."

"What? The signal's bad again? That can't be, I called your landline!"

The father and son listened, both looking rather speechless.

Zeng Liqing couldn't help but complain, "Your mom is something else too. She's such a grown woman, why does she still like to show off? Can't she learn from me?"

Zeng Cheng nodded: "Dad, you're the most reliable one."

Just then, Lao Zeng's phone rang. After glancing at the caller ID, he immediately pressed the answer button.

"Old Zhao, still up so late... are you asking how much Zeng Cheng did on his exam?"

"Why are you bringing up something you don't want to talk about? Zeng Cheng's grades have always been worse than your Rui Rui's..."

"Hey, this kid only got 627 points, not even in the top 100 in the province. If Ah Feng hadn't stopped him, I would have punched him!"

[Beep beep beep—]

Before Zeng Liqing could finish speaking, the other end of the phone hung up.

Old Zeng pursed his lips and complained to his son again, "That Old Zhao, he has no manners at all!"

Zeng Cheng: "..."

After his parents finished showing off and went to bed satisfied, he opened the score checking website again and entered Yu Baiwei's exam number.

At 1 a.m., the score checking website was no longer lagging, and Yu Baiwei's score appeared after refreshing twice.

Zeng Cheng couldn't help but gasp as he watched!